Delinquent Soul Part 1

It is from our subconscious habit of grouping manga into categories that we have arrived at the various genres we know of. However, to categorize something as diverse in itself as manga is a catch 22 situation, a situation that resulted in genres with weird names and descriptions, such as Slice of life etc. One such oft ignored and little read genre is the Delinquent Manga genre.

Delinquency is a huge problem in the Asian education system. We have entire generations of kids disillusioned by the prospect of rote study techniques and overtly competitive entrances exams for higher studies turning their backs on society as a whole. Forming into groups, gangs and syndicates from middle school onwards. Bōsōzoku (literal translation, 'Violent running tribe') evolved as an entire subculture of biker gangs in Japan. And as with all things Japanese they evolved completely differently than their western counterparts.

Keeping pace with real life, manga also evolved in the only direction possible. Manga dealing with High School Delinquents and Banchos (Leaders) became increasingly popular. Now allow me to be clear, these arent the type of manga a typical fan of the comic art form reads. The art is not always top notch, even amateurish at times. But the story is always top notch. These artists though their comics have spun grand tales of violence, crime and redemption. Drawing upon real life as an inspiration and sometimes even glorifying the idea of gang honor, and honor among the fallen.

These manga take their protagonist and make it clear that he cannot stand within the bounds of society, they show him as an outlaw outcast. Yet he is shown to be an honorable man, a person who sticks to his convictions no matter the personal cost.

A Bancho. In the truest sense of the word.

I took a shine to these comics a while back and had the good fortune of getting hands of copies of the real masterworks in the genre. But then Ive always had a liking for the crime genre. Hell two of my favorite movies off the bat are The Godfather and Goodfellas. And Im sure there are a lot of other people around like me. So this review is for all you people, who like me get caught up in semi romantic and pseudo idealistic fancies of honorable Banchos and gang loyalty, of hierarchies and generations and the tight world of crime that operates on the twin principals of respect and fear.

Allow me to present, the best of the Delinquents.

Crows.

Suzuran is the school of rejects. The most violent of all the region’s schools. The school meant for outcasts of the education system. Those deemed unfit for education anywhere else are sent to Suzuran. They call it the school of Crows. But there is another side to this story. To the students themselves, Suzuran is a shrine of the strong. The only school in the region which has never been dominated by a single person. The school of Crows which stands casting a lofty shadow on all the other schools in the reigon as the strongest, despite being divided in itself. To the students of Suzuran, it is better to be a free Crow than to be a bird of paradise trapped within a gilded cage. And free they truly are.

An epic story full of deep and surprisingly rich characters that details the rise of Harumachi Bouya, a newcomer to Suzuran. The story will sweep you off your feet, be it with the emotional and brilliant storyline or be it with the hilarious comedy it is interspersed with. Hiroshi Takahashi's first manga, Crows became a massive hit in Japan and Korea. And with good reason. There are many many dynamics in the city of Crows. Including rival schools who would love to take Suzuran down a notch, a gang of badass bikers who will stomp down anyone who dares stand up to them, and delinquents from neighboring regions vying to see who is truly strongest. As Bouya's reputation continues to soar, the list of Suzuran's enemies continues to grow. The roller coaster ride will take you up and not let up for even a second.

Read this comic book and I assure you, your blood will be burning from start to finish. I wont be too surprised if you feel like punching someone and go “HORRRRAAAA!” by the end of it.

Further reading

Hiroshi Sensei is pretty much on top when it comes to the Delinquent genre. Crows was just the beginning for him. After Crows and the Gaidens, he wrote another brilliant series called QP. And after that he came out with Worst, another manga based in Suzuran serving as a spiritual sequel to Crows. Read them all without fail.

Also not be missed the movies Crows Zero 1 and 2, set in the Suzuran universe before the events of the comic. The movies are an epic telling of the sagas that unfold in the school of crows.

Epic being the keyword.

(To be concluded)

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The Adventures of Karen Ross (Part 3)

I turned quickly, but again there was nothing. My heart was racing to the point where I could feel each beat throughout my entire body. "There's nothing there. Stop scaring yourself like this," I muttered to myself. I closed my eyes taking in a couple deep breaths. I had a heart condition as it was and the last thing I needed was to scare myself into a heart attack. I had never had one before, but I knew that I did not want to find out what it was like. I opened my eyes to see an empty stage save for the flats and few props kicking around. I was losing my mind; that's all there was to it. I went back to my painting shaking off the goose bumps running up and down my spine. The bush I was working on was looking pretty good close up, but the test was how it was going to look to the audience. I took a couple of uneven steps backwards when suddenly I bumped into something. I swallowed hard as I felt with the back of my head and shoulder blades that it was metal with an intricate design on it. I slowly looked down to see big black boots on either side of my blue and white sneakers. Very slowly I turned around to see if I was hallucinating or not. I found myself facing the man that I had seen that morning. I dropped the brush and paint can lid which made a loud clang on the stage floor. He scoffed at me. I subtly glanced at my crutches against the wall. They were no more than five feet away from me. I knew I wouldn't be able to beat him, but I was prepared to give him a bruising. I looked back at him and saw that he was following my gaze to my crutches. He smiled as he looked at me again.

Marvel May Have the Big Screen, but DC Rules TV

Here is something interesting to consider for a moment. Marvel is totally kicking bad guy butt up there on the big screen, but for about ½ a century DC has been ruling the small screen. Interesting to think about isn’t it? Today, we’re going to look at the success of DC TV shows.

It’s funny to think about how one comic company can have great success in one area of live media and the other in another. At first DC comics had it all with Superman with Christopher Reeves in 1978 and then Batman with Michael Keaton in 1989 on the big screen doing quite well. Before that; however, DC had prominent serials on the big screen (for added fun click on the hyperlinks to see trailers for the serials):

1940, 1943, & 1949 Batman and Robin with Lewis Wilson and Douglas Croft as Batman and Robin

1940 The Green Hornet with Gordon Jones and Keye Luke as The Hornet and Kato

1941 The Adventures of Captain Marvel with Tom Tyler

1948 Superman with Kirk Alyn

STEWARTS SLATE: REVIEWS OF LARGO WINCH vol 7-8 and THE BLUECOATS book 4

This week I've reviewed a few titles originally published in French and now released in English by "CINEBOOK The 9th Art Publisher"

Review of LARGO WINCH vol 7: GOLDEN GATE and vol 8: SHADOW

Writer: Jean Van Hamme

Art: Philippe Francq

Originally in French and now published in English by CINEBOOK

No super heroes, zombies, aliens, costumed vigilantes, vampires or giant transforming robots in this comic, just an incredibly captivating story with instantly likeable characters and outstanding artwork. Say hello to Largo Winch “anti-establishment, womaniser, wanderer, iconoclast, fighter”, all round great guy and, as it turns out, incredibly handy with a knife or his fists. Did he used to be a commando or something?

Set in the present day without a mutant virus or apocalyptic war in sight and following the exploits of a guy in his late twenties who inherits a massive corporation worth $10 billion, this isn't the sort of comic I usually read but, having finished the exceptionally well written story that these two books collect, I'm very glad I did.

Dog Day Afternoons

Taking a break from the usual humdrum of Deciphering DC & ushering in a "through rose tinted glasses" look at the heydays of Indian Comics in the nineties, which were incidentally also my school days. Ah those days where friendship meant everything, and everything gets set by the final bell....and then the true days begin....


I did my schooling in a quiet suburb of Mumbai called Mulund. As a toddler, I was an inquisitive chap, but never an eager reader, until my parents got me a few comic books. I was too young to read words though understood letters nicely. A few of these comics were my initiation to proper reading. I started reading comics all on my own when I reached the tender age of 6 years. Till then my parents used to read them out to me.

Once I started reading voraciously, weekend visits to the raddiwallah used to yield maybe 4-5 books per week. Growing older, the number of books was restricted solely by my pocket money. The staples were TINKLE, AMAR CHITRA KATHA, DIAMOND COMICS & INDRAJAL COMICS. On a lucky day, I might have found copies of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED, DC COMICS, MARVEL COMICS or their indian counterparts published by Chandamama as DOLTON COMICS & IBH as STAR COMICS.

I'll take my coffee with a sprinkle of wit please!

Welcome  one and all to another edition of this, your weekly wayfaring oddballness! (hey Im a writer, I love english and I love making up new words! Oxford Dic-tionary can... never mind...)

So, today I have a whole new review lined up for your pleasure and I think you'll find this one to be a doozy. Personally I wanted to review it before I even read it a little while ago and was so jealous I hadn't thought of the title first because its one of the most awesome I've ever read:

Screw Heaven, when I die Im going to Mars!

Wicked isn't it? yeah, I liked it too.
Anyway, this lovely little gem is the brainchild of one Shannon Wheeler, a syndicated new-strip cartoonist (talk about old-school!) who is also the creator of a fairly well-known comic-strip named after its hero: Too Much Coffee Man.
Now Wheeler has been writing his very intelligent and humorous strips filled with his own gently biting wit and satire for a decade now and Im a little sad and embarrassed to say that I only came across his fine work fairly recently. Published by the fine folks at Dark Horse comics, this is a truly one-of-a-kind books in my recent experience.